Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024, before the House. Our veterans have given their all in service of our country. They have faced extraordinary challenges and risks, and it is our duty to ensure their transition back to civilian life is supported by a robust and uncomplicated system. The Albanese Labor government is committed to implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide's Interim report, and this bill will do just that.

The royal commission was established to investigate the systemic issues and risk factors relevant to suicide and suicide behaviours of serving and ex-serving Defence members, and received more than 5,800 submissions. The royal commission's reports made one thing abundantly clear: for too long the veterans entitlements system has been too complicated, resulting in too many veterans experiencing adverse effects of mental health. The Australian government recognises that the current veterans entitlements system is overly complicated, difficult to understand, stressful to navigate and complex to administer.

This bill is aimed at addressing the first recommendation from the royal commission—that veteran compensation and rehabilitation legislation should be simplified and harmonised. The Albanese government is working towards this by merging three pieces of legislation into a single ongoing act. For too long, our veterans have navigated a complex maze of entitlements and support systems, each program and each process often adding layers of confusion and frustration to an already challenging experience. Under the current legislative model, veterans entitlements are determined under one or more of three primary compensation acts depending on where the veteran served and which period of service caused or contributed to the condition being claimed.

The Albanese Labor government has budgeted for $222 million in additional veteran funding—funding for veterans and family entitlements and supports—to be made available through this new simplified legislation. It ensures veterans and their families can better understand and access faster the support they are entitled to.

If passed, the new legislation will commence on 1 July 2026, allowing for ample time to ensure the veteran community are well informed of the changes and have a greater understanding of what they mean to them. Importantly, no individual veteran will suffer a reduction to their existing payments. As such, compensation previously awarded under the former acts will not be disrupted. They will be grandparented. Those receiving benefits immediately prior to the commencement of the new arrangements will continue to do so under the grandparenting arrangements without any reduction in payments. This will provide financial certainty to veterans and their families. Critical safeguards will be in place, ensuring that there is no change in compensation payments currently being received by veterans and that the current payment rates are maintained and indexed as they would be under the current system. So all of those assurances have been provided.

Since coming to government, we have been hearing again and again that the veterans' compensation system is overly complex, difficult to understand and stressful to navigate. The neglect of the former government meant that Labor inherited a chronically understaffed and underresourced Department of Veterans' Affairs and an extensive backlog of claims. We understand the devastating impact this has had on veterans and their families. Those opposite presided over a persistent gap between the needs of veterans and the resources allocated to support them. This underfunding impacted the availability and quality of services. Thankfully, the Albanese Labor government has cleared that backlog of claims since it came to office just two years ago. We have properly resourced the Department of Veterans' Affairs to ensure its viability into the future.

We are building on that work, and we are now turning our focus to simplifying the existing veterans' compensation and rehabilitation legislation. In essence, the bill before the House will streamline three separate and hard-to-navigate acts into a single, ongoing piece of legislation and, in turn, ease the stress and anxiety veterans are experiencing under the current model. Funding for the enhancements set to be delivered was announced as part of the May budget. I hope those opposite will join us in this once-in-a-generation opportunity to get the system right for veterans and their families.

This is the biggest improvement of veterans' compensation and rehabilitation laws for more than a century, and it is important that our veterans and their families help guide the decisions that impact them. The government also welcomed the findings from the final report on the royal commission, which was tabled in August this year in this House, and will provide a full response by the end of the year. Our veterans deserve the best, and this important reform will help us deliver on our promise to transform the current system.

Finally, I would like to take this moment to note the strong advocacy from the ex-service men and women in my community of Newcastle, who have been raising this issue with me for many years. I want to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of all our ex-service organisations in Newcastle. In particular I want to pay tribute to the Totally and Permanently Disabled Soldiers Association in Wallsend, the Newcastle and Hunter region Vietnam veterans and the RSL sub-branches of the City of Newcastle, Merewether-Hamilton-Adamstown, Lambton-New Lambton, Wallsend and District, Shortland and Stockton. I know the work you do each and every day to honour those who you have lost and to care for those who remain. It is exceptional work.

I would also like to acknowledge Hunter Anzac Memorial Limited, the RSL Coffee Pot Day Club in Merewether, the Gallipoli Legion Club preservation group, the Newcastle War Widows Guild club, the Gulf War Veterans Association, the Families of Veterans Guild social clubs for war widows, the Wallsend Diggers, the RAAF Association, the City of Newcastle's ANZAC committee, Newcastle Legacy, the Naval Association of Australia, Newcastle N16, Open Arms Veterans and Families Counselling, the Partners of Veterans Association of Australia, the Young Veterans Australia, the Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service, Newcastle and Hunter regions Vietnam veterans and the Defence and Veterans Legal Service. You can tell from that exhaustive list just what an engaged ex-service community I have in Newcastle. This is legislation that's going to mean a lot to those veterans and their families. The support, throughout my community, is very much appreciated, so it's terrific that we have a legislative measure now, a demonstration of the government's deep and ongoing commitment to those who served and sacrificed so much for our country. Let us embrace this opportunity to make meaningful changes that will enhance the lives of veterans and reflect our enduring respect for their service.

I want to end by saying that, as the daughter of a Vietnam veteran and life member of the RSL, I want to assure Australian veterans and their families that the Labor government have them very much at the centre of our thinking, and we are very much on their side. I am pleased that this legislation is before the House. I call on all members of parliament to support it and to do so without delay.

See this speech in context